Dark's war
by AngelofDeath2017
Summary: When two kingdoms; Life and Death; and their kings come to face each other, war is inevidible. As tensions increase on both sides the stakes keep increasing every move they make. Dark, a female Zoura, seems to be stuck in the middle of it; a Death side run-away, she gets stuck in both sides affairs and gets to watch everything fall apart around her. But did she start it all?
1. Prolouge

**_Authors' Note: This story would not be possible without the help of a few others; Maegen, Marly, and Midnight. A sincere thanks to you. Also, for the sake of the references I make at times and the sheer amount of pokémon used, I guess I'll say this thing you've probably heard way too much…_**

**_I do not own Pokémon, Nintendo, or Game Freak. I give full ownership of all their characters and locations to them. _**

**_I made this out of a rp, so if you see any plot holes or problems with the way the story flows, don't be afraid to mention it; I'm not perfect. *Crowd gasps* One of the participants had horrible grammar, so it might have translated incorrectly, sorry if it didn't get fixed. Once again, I'm not perfect so… *Crowd gasps again*_**

**_Chapter 1: Prologue_**

Prologue: There are two kingdoms in the Ransei region. There is a third one, but we will leave that for another date. The time period is medieval. The two areas are the Kingdoms of Death and of Life, ruled by King Absol and Kings Mespirit, Azelf, and Uxie respectively. There has been and is tension between the two sides. Chapter one, unlike the rest, is in the past; approximately two years in the past.

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><p>A peasant was walking by her shack as a shadow ran past her and in behind the shack. The peasant slowly turned her head and asked, "Hello?" She then heard a crashing noise and quickly turned the corner to reveal an empty corner except for a small jar shattered on the ground and its contents, fruit. She sighed and started picking up the shattered remnants of the container and the fruit she had earlier gathered.<p>

While as, the owner of the shadow, an Umbreon, was around the corner holding in a laugh as she threw a half-eaten Sitrus berry around the corner and started to run off, not making a single sound as she ran through the cobblestone streets of the Death Kingdom. The Umbreon finished its sneaking through the city, causing a little more mayhem as she approached the gate of the Death Castle.

As she rounded the corner of the around the gate she ran into another figure and they both fell down. Without hesitation the figure, an Infernape, jumped up and pulled back its fist, and right before it attacked it noticed the enemy was just Umbreon, and put its fist down; "Midnight? "What are you doing here? You should know not to sneak up on me like that."

The Umbreon got up and responded, "Well…you need to be a little less high-strung. The Infernape got up and stepped forward out of the castle. "I'm the head guard, it's my job to be high-strung." Midnight, the Umbreon, looked around at the seemingly deserted plaza and started walking away. "No Marly, it's your job to keep the high-strung people out."

Marly walked the rest of the way out of the castle and into the plaza, watching Midnight disappear into the shadows once again…

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><p>After Midnight finished up her practicing, she saw a small Zoura walking down the single garden in the whole kingdom. She snuck underneath an overhang and watched it. "Wait, that's the Zoura that is the knight-in-training…," Midnight said to herself and looked over, revealing Marly and the clock above his head, stating that the Zoura should be in training. "Oh great…" Midnight sighed as she watched Marly notice the Zoura without her mentor.<p>

Marly shortly then yelled, "Hey! What are you doing here?!" He then started running towards her, whom just continued walking and ignored him. "That was a mistake." Midnight said to herself, still watching this continue out of view. Marly, now at a mad dash, screamed; "Halt! Dark! Stop!" Marly, always taking things too far, used fire blast in front of Dark, forcing her to stop in her tracks and back away from the now burning plants. Midnight revealed herself from the shadows and walked towards Marly who had slowed down and walked through the burning plants.

Midnight asked Marly the same question Dark did, and almost simultaneously, "What are you doing?!" Marly ignored the question and stood impatiently, asking Dark, "Where is your mentor, so I can tell him you're running away." Dark looked around trying to avoid Marly, then she looked straight up at him and answered, "He's inside. And who said I was running away?! Seriously, I was just taking a walk in between lessons."

Midnight looked at Marly and walked over towards him as he looked down at the burning bushes, and then to Dark. "That's it Dark. I've had it with your so-called 'walking between lessons;' Go to King Absol." Dark sighed and replied, "Fine." She then started to walk around the burning garden into the castle.

Marly and Midnight followed, Midnight asking, "How many times has she said that?" Marly, opening the gate, still walking after Dark, replied, "Way too many, I don't buy it." Dark waited for Marly before entering, Midnight stopped, turned around, and disappeared into the shadows as Dark and Marly entered the castle…

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><p>"Signed, Azelf, Mespirit, and Uxie…ok, that should do it. Messenger, send this letter to King Absol." The messenger took the letter and walked out of the castle. Uxie waiting for the messenger to leave before asking the other two, "Do you think he'll accept?" Azelf replied in a cheerful tone, "I hope so, but at the moment we need to focus on current problems, like the completion of the add-on to the castle." "Oh yeah, I forgot." Mespirit answered and almost as if on cue a contractor entered and said they were just finishing the add-on Azelf had just mentioned. "Ok, alert the kingdom."<p>

The messenger jogged into the gates of the castle, shortly followed by the head guard and what seemed to be a Zoura. King Absol had just finished reading as the messenger walked in, "King Absol, I have a message from the kings." The king stood up, took the letter, and then read it to himself; "king Absol, We as a kingdom would like to sign a peace acc-" The king stopped and handed the letter back to the messenger, and told him to reseal it and send it back. He continued, "And once you're done, come back here; I'll have something for you."

The messenger fiddled with the letter as he walked out, leaving and holding the door for Dark to come in. Absol had just sat back down at his desk, the roundtable he jokingly called it. Dark walked up to the desk with Marly entering and following her. Marly pulled a chair over to the wall and sat in it while dark stood awkwardly at the edge of the desk. Absol readjusted himself in his chair and then told her, "Have a seat." He motioned to a chair across his desk, wooden with a cloth seat and back, which Dark sat in.

Once she got settled, Absol asked her bluntly, "Why are you here? I can tell you're nervous." Dark readjusted herself in her seat and then answered unsurely, "Well…uh, s-sir, Marly told me to come here. He thought I was running away again…" Marly looked over calmly and said, "That's true, but you were skipping lessons." Almost immediately after Marly finished Dark turned sharply at him and started to yell, but stopped herself, "I told yo-! …It was a break in-between lessons." Dark turned back to the king waiting for an answer while Marly started to get heated from Dark's behavior.

After what seemed like an eternity, Absol finally looked over from Marly to Dark and explained, "Well Dark, there is no harm from walking in-between lessons, but there is in what can happen during those walks. If you want to continue going on these 'walks', you are going to have to go with someone; we don't want anything to happen to you."

Marly was about to explode, hoping for an actual punishment, but he calmed himself enough to say, "I agree." Absol could detect the anger in Marly and was wishing he didn't have another fit, but Dark didn't really deserve a punishment. Dark realized right about when Marly did that now Marly would be around her all the time, and without thinking she asked, "But does it have to be by Marly?"

She realized what she had just done as Marly jumped out of his seat, barely stopping short of her and jerking his head towards the king, yelling, "I _WILL NOT _be talked down to by a measly student." King Absol just stared at this display for a while before calmly replying, "While Dark does need accompanied, it doesn't necessarily need to by you Marly, there are…" Absol only managed to get that out before Marly went berserk and jumped off the balcony heading towards the Life kingdom.

"…much lower ranked guards who can handle the job." Absol finished and looked back at Dark, whom was turned around looking out the balcony watching Marly sprint away. "Umm…should you worry about that?" Dark asked and turned around, noticing the king looking straight at her. The king sighed and responded, almost inaudibly, "I'm not sure, he's not my problem for the moment." He started to say something else, but it faded out.

"What was that Sir?" Dark asked, leaning forward onto the dark brown, almost black table. Absol heard a shriek in the distance and looked up over balcony, ignoring Dark's question for a second. After the screams stopped, he looked back at Dark and skipped the question, "I'll assign Crispen to your walks." Dark looked a little surprised by this and asked, "The knight Crispen?" The king didn't pause before responding, "Yes, do you have a problem with him? He is probably the best knight for this situation." Dark looked up, answering in a suddenly surprised tone, "Oh no, he's fine. But isn't he a little high ranked?"

Absol leaned back in his chair and stated, "No, he's got a good attitude, and we don't have any current military business…I think we can spare him." Dark sat there idly until a small explosion in the distance got both their attention. After a few seconds the king broke the silence by asking, "Remind me why I promoted Marly to head guard." He gave off a slight smile after asking his question, Dark noticing this, and answering his rhetorical question after smiling an almost unnoticeable amount, "I can't recall the reason Sir."

Absol stood up and said, "You can go, just check with Crispen before you go out again." Dark followed suit and stood up as well, turning to the door as she finalized, "Good bye Sir." Absol picked up some papers from his desk and sat back down as Dark walked out and closed the door behind her, "Thank god I'm not being followed by Marly anymore." She walked into her room and closed the door behind her. Then she sighed, laid down on her black cloth bed, and looked out her slightly stained window at the burning Life Kingdom.

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><p><strong><em>The original reason I was promoted to head guard was my blaze ability. I don't know why but unlike most pokémon with blaze, whom just get stronger, I get bigger, stronger, and lose control of my body. 'Berserker' is what people like me are called, and we create mass mayhem…<em>**

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><p>Marly, about 3 times bigger and madder, was sprinting through the Death Kingdom lighting anything flammable. He sprinted through everything in a strait path to the Life Kingdom. He almost trampled over Midnight who had just stolen some pottery. She jumped away from the scarlet flame trail he was creating and muttered, "Marly…I hope you know what you're doing."<p>

As soon as she said that the owner of the pottery jumped out of her burning house, noticed Midnight with her pottery, and jumped at her. Midnight avoided the old woman and quickly disappeared into the flickering shadows of the Death Kingdom.

Marly did little more than blink as he ran through the previous area and crossed to the Life Kingdom, still leaving a blazing trail as he went. He ran directly towards the castle, obliterating a few stands and houses in his way. As he neared the castle, he saw a small Vulpix yelling, "Stop! St-" Marly was getting annoyed by the Vulpix, so he used mach punch to faint the small pokémon. Once he finally made it to the Life castle's gate, he looked behind him at his trail of chaos, and then used close combat on the gate to destroy it.

Not long after he destroyed the gate he had already ran up the stairs into the castle lighting the guards and the room before him on fire. Wasting no time, he smashed right through a single wall revealing the throne room without its kings. The kings had quickly moved to their safe room and were silently asking each other, "What in the world…" "I think we're safe here." Another one asked, "Do you think King Absol sent someone at us?"

Neither of them were able to answer any of their questions before Marly burst into the safe room and said almost jiberishly, "Easy. Now it's time to burn in the light of my specialty fire." The three kings back up against the wall and manage to say, "Well, at least it's only you again." They all start to use Psychic on him, but he quickly uses Fire Blast on Uxie and Azelf, knocking them out and smashing them against the wall. Before Mespirit even has time to react Marly used Close Combat and hit him into the back wall. After he got them all against the wall he uses flamethrower to trap them in the room and then jumps out a shattered window, front-flipping once he hit the ground. Almost immediately after he started to leave he felt a sudden loss of energy, shrank back to regular size, and passed out on the ground.

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><p>Dark looked out her window and noticed the Life castle on fire, which got a slight chuckle from her, reminding her of Marly. She then got up and walked out to the Death castle door. As she looked outside at the once-was Life Kingdom she saw someone enter the Death kingdom, of which happened to be Marly. He had already awoken from his previous state and went over to a small tree to relax when Midnight approached him. Once she got within talking distance of him, she said, "Marly…What have you gotten yourself into?" He then slowly looked up and replied, "Why? What have I done?"<p>

After a moment of silence from Midnight Marly asks again, "Please tell me; _What have I done?" _She paused again, before stating, "Look behind you Marly." Marly then turned around and looked at the castle for a few seconds before asking stupidly, "Who let the Charizard out?" Midnight felt like slapping Marly, but she stopped herself and calmly answered, "That was you Marly."

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><p>Mespirit woke up to see he is surrounded by fire, and he is the first to say anything, "…Uggh…wow, Marly is still doing this. I hope…he left." Mespirit rested for a second then flew up and over the flames to access the damage. After a few minutes of assessing, He concluded the castle was completely destroyed. "I'll bet King Absol sent him…" Azelf was the second to awake, and when he did, the first thing he was in the position to see was the Death castle.<p>

Inside it, King Absol had just requested a few guards, of which he told to go fetch Marly. After they left, he made the remark, "This will be fun," to himself before sitting at his desk. Dark, whom had still been sitting by the door to the castle, watched the guards pass her on their way and figured she knew where they were going. She stood up and said to herself, "Oh boy…" After she finished standing up, she walked back inside to her room.

Marly, still talking with Midnight, sees the guards approach and asks them, "What's it about?" All they tell him is that King Absol wants him. Before he heads into the castle, Midnight whispers to him, "This can't be good." Marly replies to her almost instantaneously, "It isn't." After Marly enters the Dark castle's throne room, he asks, "You wanted me sir?" King Absol, after finishing with his paper, looks up at Marly and replies, "Yes. I think you're aware, or not, that you just destroyed the Life Kingdom."

Dark saw Marly taken inside the throne room and decided to sneak over to the door, then she pressed her ear to the door to listen. Almost immediately after Dark got settled, Midnight snuck her way into the castle and saw Dark. Dark didn't notice Midnight, whom had adopted the same position Dark was in slightly behind her, ignoring Dark.

Inside the door, Marly gave the only answer he could think of for the king's question; "Did I? Well is that really such a bad thing?" King Absol answered Marly's question, "Well, the Life Kingdom is definitely going to blame that on me. And tensions are already high enough between us…" After a few moments of thinking by King Absol, he stood up and asked, "Can you give me a good reason after this event you should stay head guard?"

Dark, still in the same position as earlier, thought to herself, 'Whoa…it's finally happening…' Midnight, behind Dark, was thinking slightly different thoughts, 'He's going to lose his job because of something he can't control?'

After an inevitable decision on the king's part, Marly started to leave the room, Midnight quickly disappearing around a corner as Dark turned around and quickly moved into a position that made it look like she had just exited her room. Marly opened the door and left the king's room, not making a sound until he left the castle, seeing Midnight around the gate corner.

Dark waited for Marly to pass, and once he did, she walked around a little bit until he was outside. Once he was she walked back into her room and finished packing up a few things. She felt a little bad that all of that started from her and she wouldn't be around much more, but she couldn't worry about it. As she finished putting the last few things in one of her bags, she looked out the window and noticed the sun had come out, revealing a small lake in the rebel side, a small area in between the kingdoms that wants them to join together. She sighed and went back to her bed, she would be there soon enough…

Once Marly got within hearing distance from Midnight, she told him, "I'm on your side Marly. I don't think you should have been fired." Marly just continued walking, shrugging off her concern. She watched him disappear around some buildings, and once he was gone, so was she…


	2. Deceptive Shadows

**_Authors' Note: This story would not be possible without the help of a few others; Maegen, Blank, and Blueblade. A sincere thanks to you. Also, for the sake of the references I make at times and the sheer amount of pokémon used, I guess I'll say this thing you've probably heard way too much…_**

**_I do not own Pokémon, Nintendo, or Game Freak. I give full ownership of all their characters and locations to them. _**

**_I made this out of an rp, so if you see any plot holes or problems with the way the story flows, don't be afraid to mention it; I'm not perfect. And yes, this is copy and pasted from the last one._**

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><p><strong><em>Chapter 2: Deceptive Shadows<em>**

"Mespirit, I must talk to you and your brothers in private." Bone said to the kings after entering the room. All three kings followed him into a separate room and Mespirit was the first to answer, "What do you need to talk about Bone?" Bone, a male Houndoom, answered slowly, "I have a request." The kings didn't say a word, implying him to go on, "I request to make a small group of fighters to lead an attack against the Death side." Azelf is the first to say anything after this, the others not knowing what to say, "…Why do we need to attack the Death kingdom?"

"I have received news that the Death side is going to start a war, so I believe we should strike first. Is this wrong my kings," Bone replied to Azelf. He looked into Azelf's yellow eyes, almost examining them, Azelf doing the same. Bone's red eyes however were a little higher up than Azelf, so he had to look up past his body to see them. The Houndoom looked just like any other, black fur, grey horns, and orange stomach. He looked just like any other pokémon you'd find in the Death kingdom; which made him great at his job: a spy. Being a Houndoom, however, made him stand out in the Life Kingdom, which is why he only comes in when he has important information.

After what seemed like an eternity to Mespirit, whom had been waiting patiently, Azelf finally answered, "Well…you're the spy…Ok, send in a small force, maybe 5 soldiers to invade, not a large army…Now that I'm given the chance…I do have some information I'd like to get if you get to it." Bone waited for Azelf to continue, Mespirit almost dying after he heard Azelf say he has more information. "…Two years ago the Death Kingdom sent a berserker here and destroyed the castle; including the new addition we're almost 're-done' with. I'd like to know why. The berserker's name was Marly, anyone who was alive two years ago should know what happened."

Bone, realizing Azelf had finished, nodded and waited a moment before adding in a confused tone, "So…ok." After a look from Azelf he finally deducted what he needed from this information and then answered, more confidently this time, "Thank you. I will start recruiting at once." Bone then walked out of the room and quickly out of the castle before whispering to himself, "Mission accomplished." He smiled as he walked out into the training grounds out in front of the castle.

A peasant was walking by as he got pushed by an Arcanine going the opposite direction, of which said sorry to the peasant, but in the crowd of people, his apology was inaudible. The Arcanine, with a package on its back that the peasant couldn't have seen, continued on his way down the streets, yawning as he exited the street and stopped to recollect himself, realizing he forgot what he was supposed to be doing today. "…Oh yeah, I was supposed to deliver this thing to the kings…" After he remembered what he was supposed to be doing, he readjusted his wait to better accommodate the weight of the package, looks up at the castle, and then walks back into the street to start heading there.

As he got closer to the castle, he passed the training grounds, where Gemini seemed to be getting chewed out, for being late, or at least that's what it sounded like to the Arcanine. One of the other trainee's waved and yelled, "Hey Nero!" Almost immediately after that outburst the other trainee got scolded. The Arcanine was in his own world thinking when the acknowledgement came. He was thinking, 'Wait, there's more than one king…I hope they all like sweets. I wonder if there's enough to satisfy all of the-…wait, I'm forgetting one thing…' Unnoticeable to everyone else he looked around in panic and unknowingly to him he spoke out loud instead of in his head, "I-I have no idea how to get permission how to visit them! Oh the guards will think I'm a spy and have my head!"

Nero turned around quickly in panic and saw a Houndoom heading towards him from the castle, whom walked up to him and Gemini who had quickly moved out of the way of his commanding officer when he had the chance to do so. Bone walked up to the two, looked at them for a few seconds, then told them, "You two come with me." Nero almost instantly looked at Bone and nervously replied, "W-what me, why nonono I'm just a commoner." Bone ignored Nero's anxiousness as much as possible and continued, "You're not in trouble. I have a request to ask you. Would the two of you be willing to help take down an area in death territory?"

Gemini said his first thing all day in an almost too eager tone, "Oh boy, my first mission." Nero just looked down at the Houndoom, and asked, "Why me?" Bone thought for a moment before answering warmly, "You guys have that something special." He pointed at his chest and finished his statement, "Heart." Gemini couldn't say anything from his eagerness except, "Cool." Nero put a paw up on his head, obviously confused now, "Can I at least deliver this gift to the kings first. My mother stayed up really late to bake them."  
>Nero realized that Bone wasn't going to let him go, so he waited until he wasn't paying attention and then snuck off. Once he got in front of the castle he noticed there were no guards in front of the castle. As quickly as he could go, he ran into the castle.<p>

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><p>Meanwhile, sitting in a tree in the rebel kingdom; Dark was looking at the Death castle and thinking about her time there. After she spends a few more minutes in the tree she gets down and sighs, trying to expel the memories clouding her thoughts. Once she gets to the bottom and starts to walk down a path leading towards the life kingdom, she asked herself, "When will it stop…No, the question is…when will it start?"<p>

She continued walking for about 10 minutes before arriving at the Life Kingdom gates and slipping through a space in its intricate design. "Wish that was harder…" Once she was inside, she relaxed and started to walk around the shops, letting her mind wander. She walks around for a while until she sees a few pokémon standing in front of the training grounds and they start to walk away, bringing up the question, "…Wonder where they're going…," in her head.

She shrugged it off, not really caring about a few random pokémon. Dark then started to walk back towards a stand she saw earlier with some food on it. As she got close to it see saw a Mawile, the current messenger. Mawile had been the messenger for a few years, but before her the messenger changed almost monthly. Dark wasn't too familiar with the messenger and hadn't been around to know if that was the current one.

So, to her, it was weird for a Mawile to be in the life kingdom; although she couldn't talk, Zoura's aren't that common either. She continued to the stand while the Mawile jogged towards the castle to give the kings a message from King Absol. Mawile had her eyes on the castle as she headed towards it, noticing an Arcanine run into it. The Arcanine ran the rest of the way into the castle until he got to the throne room's door. He stopped at the door, took in a deep breath, and walked in.

It was weird for him, because when he walked in, the room was empty. He looked around to see if the kings were anywhere in the room, and right before he gave up, they emerged from the balcony. Once they noticed him, he got a little scared in the sudden appearance of things, thinking to himself, "What if I screw-up and say something wrong?" After he paused and got himself back together, he asked, "King Mespirit, Azelf, and Uxie; how are you today?" After they recognized it was Nero, which had never directly talked to them, but he had been mentioned to them countless times, they answered, all three in perfect unison, "…Fine, how are you?"

Nero ran a paw through his head fur nervously, he had never been in front of the kings. "F-Fine…Well, I'm here today because I needed to give you three this present." After completing this statement, he took off the package from his back and laid it down in from of him. "They're cream puffs, with different fillings; my mother baked them last night."

Mespirit excitedly replied to this, "Really?! Thanks, I've been craving these all day!" After his outburst he lunged towards them but Azelf grabbed him and held him back as he apologized, "Sorry, he's a bit…ancy. Why don't you open that there? We trust you but we have to make sure it's not a threat."

Nero, still nervous, nodded and tugged at the wrapping, revealing three separate boxes with an individual pastry in each box. "See, nothing suspicious." He laughs nervously after this for a few seconds. The three kings floated over to the box, Azelf looking inside, Mespirit taking a quick glance before stating, "They look good to me!," and grabbing one. Azelf and Uxie look over at each other and take one. After they all had one Uxie noticed there were none left and quietly asked, "Did you make any for yourself?"

Nero shook his head and answered, "Mother makes these things all the time so I told her I didn't want any this time." Mespirit quickly gulped his down, followed by the other two taking a bite. Azelf, after swallowing, asked Nero, "Mmm, these are good, what's in them?" Nero was silent after this question, smiling the slightest bit, concerning Azelf, until he answered, "Umm…well, moo-moo milk and a different assortment of berries were used to make each filling." He smiled more, not feeling so nervous anymore, continuing, "I'm glad you like them."

Mespirit then saids, "Well, tell her that she knows how to make these." Shortly after he saids this, he burps, the result of him quickly eating the pastry. Azelf quickly pulled him off to the side and angrily whispered to him, "I swear you don't know how to be a king do you?" Mespirit, at a regular tone, answered, "No, what's your point." Azelf sighed and then turned back at Nero, noticing the messenger had appeared behind him.

Nero ignored Mespirit being pulled to the side and said, "I'm more than sure she would." He did not notice the messenger appear behind him, being quieter than seemingly possible for a Mawile. Azelf acknowledged the messenger, "Well messenger, what do you have today?" Mespirit ignored the messenger and kept his attention on Nero, whom turned, greeted the messenger with a cheerful hello, and then turned back around to the kings, "I didn't know you guys enjoyed baking…"

Mespirit answered Nero's question, "Well, it tastes good, so why not?" The messenger answered Azelf's question, "I have a letter from king Absol." After the messenger finished that sentence, the room went silent for a few seconds before Azelf broke it, "Great, this again…" Nero replied to Mespirit's earlier remark, "Umm, no reason. I was just…slightly curious…by the way, is…well, is the relationship with this kingdom and the Death Kingdom stable? Sorry for asking, but we don't get a lot of news since we don't live here."

Azelf took the letter, opened it, and started to read it as Mespirit answered Nero with what seemed to be an answer that he put though in, "I think so, but kingdoms like ours ca-" Azelf, without warning, cut off Mespirit and told him, "Mespirit, come read this." Mespirit and Uxie float to Azelf and read the letter. After a moment of reading, Mespirit spoke up, "…Do you guys think we should?" Uxie answered Mespirit's question, which surprised both Azelf and Mespirit, "Yeah, if we don't we'll be in more trouble than we are now."

Nero noticed the concern in all three kings' faces and answered his own question, "I guess not. So, what's going on, or should a commoner like me not be concerned?" Azelf answered Nero unsurely, "Well, you seem trustworthy enough…but…-" Mespirit cut him off and yelled, "He gave us food!" Azelf sighed and continued, "Fine…King Absol from the Death Kingdom just sent a letter requesting us to go and talk to him." Uxie suddenly got a worried face and quickly went up to Azelf and whispered into Azelf's ear. After he finished, Azelf replied to Uxie's comment, "Oh god, that's right, that spy is going to attack the Death Kingdom. Great, right after he sent that letter, that couldn't have been worsly timed…umm, by any chance, could you go and stop him?"

Nero heard this and got very nervous after hearing this, putting him in a very awkward situation. However, he couldn't say no to the kings… "Umm…ok…" After he thought for a second, he continued, "Well, I need to get going then. I'll see if I can get any more sweets for you." Nero bowed, then quickly gets out of the room.

Azelf, asked the other two, "So…when are we going?" Mespirit looked genuinely shocked when Azelf said that, "What! I thought we were going to ignore it…" Azelf sighed at Mespirit's reaction, then told the messenger, "Messenger, go back to the Death Kingdom and tell King Absol that we'll be arriving shortly." The messenger nodded and left the room, leaving the three kings. "Mespirit, Uxie, get ready, we're leaving in an hour."

* * *

><p>Bone realized Nero had left him, looked around, and then asked Gemini, "Where did he go?" Gemini shrugged, and Bone sighed, then said to himself, "Oh well, he'll show up eventually." He started to look around to find another member to take his place, and after a few seconds he saw a small Zoura at a stand nearby. "Perfect." He said, and started to walk towards her. Meanwhile, Dark was at the stand and bought a few berries. Even as she continued walking, she couldn't get the strange pokémon out of her thoughts. She muttered to herself, "Oh wonderful…All this time, and now I start to get paranoid." After walking a little farther she noticed a Houndoom walking towards her, which caused her to stop and wait for it. Bone reached her and wasted no time before asking her, "Hey, you should come with us." After he said that he noticed Gemini was still at the training area, leaving him by himself. "Well, umm…we'r-I'm forming a small group to take over part of the Death Kingdom."<p>

After Gemini gets back to Bone, Dark answers, "Death Kingdom…I don't really think I should be the one going…" Bone continued trying to get Dark, "Why not, I mean you'd be famous if you helped take down the Death Kingdom." Dark, starting to get worried, but trying hard not to show it, and continued, "Yeah…I guess I would, but…" She realized that if she kept arguing she would raise suspicion, so she gave in, "Ya' know…that sounds pretty good. I'll come!"

Bone perked up a bit now that he had convinced her and now had a full force, "Well, nice to see you've had a sudden change of heart. Now we just need that Arcanine…" After Bone looked back and thought for a moment, he turned back and said, "Hmm, just forgot him, we can do this with the three of us." After he finished he motioned the others to follow him as he headed towards the Death Kingdom, a smile working its way onto his face. Dark followed Bone and Gemini slowly, thinking to herself, "I really think this doesn't end how I think it will…"


	3. IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE!

I am pleased to announce that, despite what my other stories may have said, this story is going to continue. I am going to work on one story at a time until I reach a point where I think I can do two or maybe three. But if you were dieharding on this story, congratulations, this is the one I will be continuing.

I apologize for the delay of the other stories, but I can't get any progress when I'm working four at once. Until the next chapter, may your donkeys rest in peace, or something.


	4. Light the Fire

**_Authors' Note: This story would not be possible without the help of a few others; Maegen, Blank, and Blueblade. A sincere thanks to you. Also, for the sake of the references I make at times and the sheer amount of pokémon used, I guess I'll say this thing you've probably heard way too much…_**

**_I do not own Pokémon, Nintendo, or Game Freak. I give full ownership of all their characters and locations to them. _**

**_I made this out of an rp, so if you see any plot holes or problems with the way the story flows, don't be afraid to mention it; I'm not perfect._**

**_Chapter 3: Light the Fire_**

* * *

><p>"What do you mean no? The kings gave me the order to stop you." "Well, tell them this isn't for them anymore, it's for me." And that simple phrase started it. The docile Arcanine turned to head back and tell the kings what he had been told, but the kings had already passed him. He would not get this information to them. Bone's army would reach and attack the Death kingdom…<p>

"So…what do you think this is about?" Mespirit asked the other two, the only one who genuinely seemed to care for this meeting. Uxie was in his own world at the moment, which left only Azelf to answer the question, "Umm, it probably has to do with the relationship between our kingdoms." Mespirit gave Azelf a look and he continued, "-and it might have to do with finding some kind of solution."

"So, you have no idea?" Azelf looked up at Mespirit, who had just summed up his ideas, and nodded his head. They continued it silence after this, the only noise were their guards' footsteps along the grass and dirt.

After they travelled a little farther, they all stopped and looked at the Death kingdom's gates in their faces. They all seemed unnerved by this, none of them had ever been across these gates. The guards took in a deep breath and slowly pulled the black gates open. The inside of the gates didn't look at all like they expected. The Death kingdom looked similar to the Life kingdom, stone and wood houses, cobblestone walkways, merchant booths scattered about; the only noticeable difference besides the inhabitants was the castle. It was made of black marble and stone.

The guards, after taking an eyeful closed the gates and continued on their way with the kings. The inhabitants didn't seem to notice or care about the kings floating by. The kings wouldn't have known the difference between the two kingdoms if they hadn't entered the black gates. They approached the castle and were greeted by two guards at the entrance who opened the castle gates and motioned them inside.

The kings were even more surprised when they noticed the castle layout was almost the same. Other than the add-on at the Life castle, the hallways and rooms seemed to match. Of course the furniture was different, but it was odd how similar they were. They had become so entranced by this they almost went right past the throne room. Their guards had to stop them and tell them they had arrived.

Once they all zoned back in, they took a deep breath and opened the door to the throne room. The door was heavier than theirs, but it seemed to have been older, because the door squeaked when it opened. This must not have alerted the king because when they entered the room, the Death kingdom's king was nowhere in sight. After the three kings looked around a little, King Absol entered in from the balcony and looked a little surprised the trio had actually shown up.

He didn't waste any time however, as soon as he finished greeting them, he motioned to a table to his right and told them, "Sit…we need to talk."

* * *

><p>Bone and his army were surprised when they saw the gates open in front of them. This meant that the kings had somehow gotten in front of them. "Well, that puts a snag in our plan," Bone said to himself, Dark overhearing him and asking, "What exactly is our plan?" Bone stopped and looked back at her, Gemini still a little behind the two. Bone waited for him to catch up before explaining, "Our plan is going to go something like this: I and Gemini are going to go around to the gate about a half a mile from here and use this to get us in." He pulled out what looked to be a small orb but made both Dark and Gemini back up when it lit up with a small timer.<p>

Dark barely withheld screaming, "You had a bomb with you, in the Life kingdom?!" Bone nodded and answered, "Yea, I couldn't keep it anywhere else." After Dark cooled down, Bone continued with his plan, "…And you Dark are going to go inside the gates and find a Houndoom named Wildfire. He lives in a house just past the gate, and you need to tell him, 'Bone is near,' exactly how I said it. Did you get that?"

Dark nodded at Bone and asked him, "He'll know what that means?" Bone told her yes to her question before finalizing, "And you need to tell him that and be back with us within ten minutes of leaving. If you're not, sorry, but the party is starting without you." With that, he twisted a small dial on the bomb that moved the timer to ten minutes and concealed it back where he had it.

Dark looked off towards the gate which had closed since they had last seen it, and asked Dark, "What if someone sees me?" Dark almost immediately answered her, "Why would it matter if anyone sees you?" Dark was silent for a minute then spoke out unsurely, "Umm…What if they ask me what I'm doing?" Bone understood this question better than the last one, and gave a better answer, "Just tell them you're looking for someone. If they ask who, say Wildfire."

Dark nodded to this answer and looked up at the clock tower to check the time, as did Bone. After he had checked, Bone looked over at Gemini and asked him, "Are you ready Gemini?" Gemini only gave Bone a nod, but he knew Gemini was enthusiastic, from the looks of it Gemini had been training to be a knight in the kings' army, and Bone needed someone like him.

Bone looked at Dark, who had been looking at him, and told her, "Ok, you have ten minutes. I'd suggest going now." Dark gave Bone an 'ok' and ran towards the gate, quickly disappearing behind it and into the kingdom. Bone motioned Gemini along the wall and started running along it. As he ran, he looked down, revealed his bomb, and activated the timer, starting the countdown in small red numbers.

As Bone ran with Gemini close behind, he thought to himself, 'Kings, I don't know where you may have been, but this little device I hold here is going to bring you somewhere brand new, and the best part about it, once you get there, there's no going back.'

"What are you doing here?" Dark's fears had been realized, a Shuppet had stopped her and asked her exactly what she had hoped not for. She couldn't think of any lie that would sound true, so she just told the Shuppet what she had been told, "I'm looking for someone." The Shuppet looked at her and asked the next question Dark was expecting, "Who?" Dark told the Shuppet exactly what she had been told, "I'm looking for Wildfire." Dark didn't expect this to work, but the Shuppet just gave an annoyed look and pointed to a nicer looking house at the end of a street. As Dark ran off in that direction, the Shuppet yelled to her, "Tell him I didn't say hello!" Dark just ignored the statement, although it did prove the fact that Wildfire must not be that favored in the kingdom.

She continued until she arrived at the door of what the Shuppet had described as Wildfires' house. The house, unlike the others, was made of dark colored bricks, which was completely off of what the rest of the road's houses looked like. The rest were mostly wood and whatever else seemed to be around. Dark knocked on the door to the house and waited, hoping Wildfire wasn't a similar character to Bone.

After what seemed like forever, the door opened and revealed Wildfire, whom looked around before noticing Dark, proving his height was much greater than Dark's. After Wildfire noticed her, he acknowledged her with a, "What." Dark just gave a sigh and answered him, "Bone is near." Wildfire looked down at Dark and asked, "What?" Dark repeated herself and Wildfire looked above her into the distance before saying to himself, "So…he finally did it."

They both stood in silence for a few seconds before Dark remembered her schedule and told Wildfire, "Well, I've got to go." Wildfire nodded and said to Dark, "Yes. You and me both." Dark turned and started to run back towards the gate where she had came from when she noticed Wildfire was following her. She asked behind her, "Where are you going?" Wildfire answered her quickly without even slowing down, "Away from here."

In the time it took Dark to turn her head around to look at him, he was gone. "Wow…I guess that's why he's friends with Bone." She turned off the street and exited the gate to the kingdom. She looked up at the clock tower and was horrified when she saw she had about two minutes to make it from her location back to Bone. She started running towards the direction Bone and Gemini had gone, but she could tell she wasn't going to make it in time. She continued running, but more cautiously, she didn't want to run into them as Bone detonated it.

She rounded a corner and saw Bone on the ground with Gemini, both covering their ears underneath a tree. Dark didn't need a bigger sign that the bomb was about to detonate, she just jumped to the ground and covered her ears. She looked over at Bone and noticed he was shaking his head slowly, so she looked around and gasped when she saw her fear right in front of her. The small bomb was a mere two feet in front of her face, and the only thing that could have made it worse was if she looked at the timer, which she did.

Bone and Gemini closed their eyes and braced themselves while Dark was frozen in place staring at the timer count down the final second, to her the world had almost seemed to have stopped. The last thing Dark saw were four similar red figures and a bright white light envelop her…

* * *

><p>"So that wasn't on purpose?" Absol just shook his head and gave the simplest answer possible, "No..." Azelf had just asked, in his mind, the most important question there was. "…the events of two years ago today were not intentional," Absol finished the answer and looked behind the three kings at the balcony, recalling the event that started all of this. After he had his moment Azelf asked him a harder question to answer, "What caused the berserker to…well, go berserk?" The king had to think long and hard to obtain an answer to this question, but finally he replied, "Well, the berserker, Marly, had brought someone here to be punished, and I basically didn't feel the need for a punishment. Apparently that made him mad and got him fired." Mespirit smiled at the pun, intended or not, Absol made no expression to prove or disprove it.<p>

Azelf and Uxie both nodded and Azelf added the comment, "Well it's nice to know you weren't trying to kill us." Absol just looked at them with a blank expression for a few seconds before somewhat changing the subject, "No. That's the reason I've called you here today. I'm not trying to start a war, but I fear someone is…"

All three Life kings became silent after hearing this, waiting for King Absol to continue, which he soon did, "Shortly after I dealt with Marly, I ran in with someone that was dead-set on being a knight at this castle. He had plenty of qualifications to get the job, but I rejected him. Something felt off about him. My suspicions were later proven correct, however, when he was found here trying to get some of my guards to mount an offensive against your kingdom. We stopped him before he could get an army large enough and locked him up here."

Absol waited for the kings to absorb this information, which was shown when Uxie asked, "So what's the problem?" He looked directly at Uxie and explained, "The problem is that recently we discovered he'd escaped." Azelf almost instantly asked, "How long ago?" Absol looked down at one of the papers on his desk and replied, "Two days." Mespirit exhaled after hearing this, Absol noticing and finishing his explanation, "You may not think two days is enough to re-gather enough people or weapons, but here's the kicker: he's the leader of the Shadows. He has enough connections and weapons stored he could be ready to attack by tomorrow."

The Shadows, also known as the rebels, occupy a small strip of land in between the two kingdoms. Houses are sparse, just made out of various materials. The only goal the Shadows have is to reunite the two kingdoms together. While they don't live the best, they have been stockpiling various weapons and other miscellanea for years. They haven't acted violently since they were created, but with the supplies they have gathered, it wouldn't be difficult.

Azelf asked the next question both of the other Life kings were thinking, "Who's the leader?" Absol looked down at his papers and spoke the answer, "His name is Bone, he's a Houndoom." Azelf had to ask Absol again, "Did you say Bone?" Absol noticed the sudden desperation in Azelf's voice and replied, "Yes, why?"

All three kings looked at each other with the same face, causing King Absol to ask again, more desperately this time, "Why?" Azelf slowly turned back to Absol and told him a cliché yet powerful answer, "We may have a problem." And that was it. Almost as if on cue an explosion sounded not far from the castle. Absol instinctively jumped up from his chair and yelled, "Get down!" The three kings all jumped from their chair to the floor, as did Absol, who then asked, "What did he do?!" Azelf replied as best he could, "Well, he showed up and requested to make a small army on the base that you were going to start a war."

A Quilladin ran into the room asking, "Are you ok my king…s?" Absol reactively replied, "Yes Crispen, we're fine." Crispen, satisfied with the answer, asked his next question, "Do you want to send a small force out to investigate?" Absol looked over at the other kings, motioned for them to stand up, and replied to Crispen's question, "Yes. But take a few extra guards and be alert, it's a code black."

Crispen's stature was astounding, the knight looked as if he was the king, but when he heard 'code black', that all seemed to just go away and reveal the young Quilladin he was. He lost the determination in his eyes and he actually looked a little scared. "O-ok sir." And with that, he was gone. Once he left, Absol stood up and continued, "So how was he related to you?"

Azelf struggled to come up with any words, so Mespirit gave an answer, "He had been a spy in our kingdom for years, but he only came to us when he had significant information. We assumed that when he hadn't checked in for two years that he hadn't had any information, not-…well, in jail. So when he appeared earlier today asking to send in a small force due to his reasons, we agreed." Azelf, not wanting to look any worse, almost cut Mespirit off to say that he watched the army move out and it was only three strong, including him.

This made Absol feel a little better, but he knew only a few men could still do some damage. "Well, at least now I can inform the guards the army is three strong; the whole 'code black' thing set for an entire rebel revolt. That should make Crispen feel a little better. He _is_ the best guard we have, but none of them have been in a full-scale battle before. Excuse me for a moment." With that, the king left the room and left the other three kings alone. They looked at each other, unsure about how the meeting had gone. They seemed to have caused more trouble than help.

Azelf looked out the balcony at the rather large hole in the wall not far from the castle. It was odd that someone like Bone wouldn't have just snuck in and attacked directly. Blasting a hole in a wall was not his way of doing things. The oddest part was that even after Bone put the hole in the wall, nothing had moved from it, almost as if no one was there…

And then it clicked.

Azelf then moved as fast as he could out the door and towards what he hoped was the entrance. Both Mespirit and Uxie followed him with no idea why Azelf was running, he hadn't said a word. Azelf was correct, the layout was the same as the Life kingdom's castle, and he rounded the corner to hit King Absol head on. As soon as Absol could get up, he asked, "What is it?" Azelf wasted no time before answering, "Who did you just send?"

Absol thought for a second and answered: "Umm, Crispen, his two apprentices, and a few other knights. My best guards, why?" Azelf didn't bother to answer the question and asked another, more urgently, "Are they the commanders?" Absol answered, more urgently as well, "Yes, why?"

Azelf couldn't find a way to put everything in short, so he had to start from the beginning, "You know Bone isn't a shock and awe kind of guy, he'd much rather just sneak in. So that confused me when he blew a hole in the wall, especially near the castle. Even if he had an army of only three men, the army would not be able to sneak in through a hole like that, but no one has come through it yet. You mentioned earlier that he was the leader of the rebels and we both know they could easily mount an offensive. The rebels are only a jog away both kingdoms, as well as the hole he just created. The hole was just a distraction, and he knew that if we were here, you would eventually know he was mounting an offensive. He knew that you would send in your best guards as a precaution, which also happen to be the commanders of your army, which he learned when he tried to become a knight here. With them out, your army will take twice as long to ready up and that will give him twice the time to attack. We just don't know where he's planning on attacking from…"

Mespirit spoke from behind Azelf, pointing a finger beyond Absol, "I think I have an idea." The kings looked out the door and saw an entire army coming towards the castle from the gate. Absol immediately turned around and sprinted towards the barracks that were, like everything else, in the same spot as the Life castle. Mespirit and Uxie started to run after him, but Azelf grabbed them and told them, "Wait, Bone must also know the castle layouts are the same. He's been in ours enough to know how to get around, so I'll bet he'll show up in here eventually." Mespirit nodded and the three of them went down the hallway towards the throne room.

* * *

><p>"Dark, what are you doing here?" Dark slowly looked up and revealed Crispen standing above her, as well as a few other guards. She quickly looked around and remembered the situation she was previously in. She looked back up at Crispen and attempted to get up, but she was forced to stop when a sharp pain shot up her left hind leg.<p>

Crispen quickly asked her, "Are you ok?" Dark shook her head and looked at her leg, noticing it was bleeding. Crispen motioned one of the knights to help her while he asked her again, more serious this time, "Dark, what were you doing here?" Dark couldn't come up with a single answer to this question, all she did was look around for any sign of help. It looked like Bone had abandoned her, surprise.

Crispen sighed and reluctantly told her, "Well, if you can't give me a reason, I'm going to have to take you in." The knight behind her that had been helping her leg finished wrapping her leg up and walked back over to the others and said, "She'll be fine, just a cut." With that Dark tried, and with help from Crispen, managed to get up and stay standing. Another of the guards, a Zoarark, chuckled a bit and said, "Well at least it wasn't a code black right?" This confused Dark and she asked, "What's a code black?"

The knights looked at Crispen and he answered, "Code black is when the leader of the Shadows attacks." Dark then asked, "Who _is_ the leader of the Shadows? I've been there but no one ever mentioned his name." Crispen quickly answered "Bone." as if he despised even saying the name. This came as quite a shock to Dark, who could only say one thing, "W-what?" Crispen noticed the surprise in her voice, looked her straight in the eye and asked, "Why is that a shock to you?"

"W-well, you see…Bone is the one who did this, but he's gone now. I don't know where he went after the blast." After she said that, the knights all paused and after a few moments Crispen motioned them all, including Dark, back towards the castle. "If Bone is somewhere else, the best spot we can be is the castle." After Crispen finished, everyone turned and started on their way back towards the castle. After they passed the last row of houses they all stopped in their tracks when they saw the army between them and the castle. Crispen quickly looked around and started to run around some houses, yelling, "This way!"

They all ran as quickly as possible around the army behind a line of houses. As they ran, Crispen asked Dark, "Did you know about this?" Dark, barely managing to run with her injured leg, replied, "No. I thought it was just Bone, Gemini, and me. I didn't even know who Bone actually was until a few minutes ago." Crispen stopped and told the others to do the same before acknowledging Dark's answer, "But you still were part of it; you're not off the hook." The next thing Crispen asked seemed to have come out of nowhere, "What happened to you? After the events of two years ago you disappeared a loyal member of our kingdom and now you come back bombing it."

Dark stood in place for a moment before answering quietly, "…It's complicated." Crispen smiled the smallest bit and replied, "Isn't it always?" He quickly regained his previous composure and continued, "I just don't get it, the events of two years ago didn't even involve you, but almost immediately after them you disappeared." Dark looked directly at Crispen, sighing and replying, "Actually…they did involve me." Crispen continued looking at her quietly, implying that he wanted her to continue. "Marly was bringing me in to see King Absol for 'skipping lessons', and Absol didn't feel the need for a punishment. Any of you who were here two years ago know how Marly was, so when he didn't get his way, he went berserk, literally. Why he went for the Life Kingdom, I have no idea, but it put the current events in action."

One of the other guards then asked, "So, you started all this?" Dark was afraid to admit it, both to everyone else, but also to herself. However, she knew she had to, "Yes, I guess I did." Crispen absorbed this information then looked around at the castle for a moment before pointing and telling everyone, "There is a secret entrance behind that tree. Go, I'll be there in a minute." The other guards all snuck around to the tree and disappeared, leaving Crispen and Dark. Crispen looked around to make sure no one could see them then asked in a much more serious tone, "I want a completely truthful answer here: What were you doing at the blast site?"

Dark, a little more comfortable without all the other guards, answered, still hesitantly, "…I was there because Bone scooped me up along with someone else to take down a small area in this kingdom. I had no idea it involved all this." Crispen nodded and asked another question, "Why did you agree to come here?" Dark answered, more confidently this time, "Because if I didn't, then he'd ask why, and I couldn't come up with an answer that wouldn't get me in more trouble than I am in now."

Crispen looked out beyond the gates for a moment before saying, "I would have done exactly the same thing. I've experienced the same types of problems before: You have only one option, but it goes against everything you believe in." They both stood in silence for a few seconds before Crispen stated, "Assuming we survive this, I'm going to let you off the hook with this. I just hope Marly, wherever he is, doesn't go berserk over it." Dark chuckled as they both snuck past the last bit of the army and disappeared into the castle.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean the kings aren't here?! Where are they?" The Life Kingdom guard was quite confused by this Arcanine's urgency, until the Arcanine explained everything to him. The guard immediately told the Arcanine, "They went to the Death kingdom to discuss something with King Absol. Do you think they're in trouble?" The thought was proven when the Arcanine heard something behind them and turned around to see Gemini running towards them.<p>

Once he arrived at the two, he yelled, "Nero, We've got a problem! Long story, but, basically there's an entire army attacking the Death Kingdom." The guard looked at Gemini and asked, "Who's army? We didn't attack them?" Gemini immediately answered, "The Shadow's army. It turns out, Bone's the leader." Both the guard and Nero asked simutaniasly, "You mean spy Bone?" Gemini nodded and the guard expressed everyone's current feeling, "Well, crap."

Nero knew where Gemini had been, so he asked, "Is Bone attacking at the kings?" Gemini shook his head and answered, "I don't think so, but they're still in there. I came back here as fast as I could once I learned Bone was the leader." The guard turned as if he was going inside the castle, but he stopped before he went anywhere. He then turned back around and told the other two, "I can't get a force ready can I? Even if we send in just a rescue force, it would seem as if we were at war…The only people we could send would be ones that are already there."

Gemini suddenly looked up at the guard and added, "-Or already were there." All three of the pokémon looked at each other and knew what they had to do. To the guard's disappointment, he had to stay, but he was told to prepare a small force of men and send them near the gates to 'disperse' any pursuing pokémon. Nero and Gemini got to go back to the Death Kingdom and rescue the kings. They would do so as quickly and quietly as possible. Once they all finalized their plan, they went their separate directions.

* * *

><p>"We had a feeling you'd show up here." Azelf said to the character the kings have quickly come to have hated. The character, none other than Bone, had been caught exactly where the three kings had predicted. "You really thought of everything Bone, didn't you?" Bone continued to stand in place barely past the door, not moving a muscle. After a few seconds of silence, Bone asked a question of his own: "What are you doing here?"<p>

Mespirit quickly answered Bone's question, "We could ask you the same thing. We sent that Arcanine to stop you." Bone merely laughed at this and answered, "That Arcanine was a joke. I can't believe I almost let him join me. Besides, you don't have the authority to stop me. Let alone that Arcanine."

Azelf began to look around the room as Mespirit continued, "Nero wanted to join you?" Bone nodded and replied, "Yes. If he hadn't run off he'd be in that army down below." Mespirit then asked a question he could never explain where it had come from: "What are you planning to do to this kingdom?" Bone shifted his head from Mespirit to Azelf, obviously ignoring Mespirit's question before asking Azelf, "What are you doing?" Azelf, who was and still is looking around the room, answered Bone rather quickly, "What could you be looking for in here?" Once again, Bone laughed and answered: "You really don't need to be looking around that much. What I'm looking for is right in front of me."

Azelf attempted to ignore the unnerving comment by asking again, "What are you doing here?" At this point it seemed as if the two were having different conversations, and this point was proven after Bone answered, "The same thing you are." Mespirit gave little time for thought before hastily stating, "So you're here because King Absol gave you a letter requesting your presence?"

Both the other kings looked at him, sighed, then back at Bone, whom waited then replied, "No, I'm here for the actual reason you're here. We're here because we both know that war is inevidible. If all was perfect between these two kingdoms, you wouldn't have felt the need to come here. Am I right?" The three kings looked at each other then back towards Bone before nodding.

Bone, noticing this agreement, continued, "I'm here because I know war is inevidible, and I'm here to stop it dead in its tracks. By now you know who I am, and you know my intentions. I'm here not just to stop this war, but I'm here to stop any war from happening again." Mespirit looked outside for a moment then commented: "It doesn't look like you're doing a good job at it."

Bone looked directly at Mespirit and answered, "One battle is worth it for a region without wars." Azelf was just about to say something, but an unknown voice appeared behind the three kings: "It's going to take more than one battle, I'll make sure of that." The three kings turned around and were shocked to see Nero and Gemini right behind them. Bone looked from Mespirit to Nero and replied to him, "Really, how are you going to do that? I've got an army of thousands and you've got one over-enthusiastic guard-in-training."

Nero looked Bone straight in the eye with the slightest smirk on his face and replied, "I have the one thing you don't…I've got the kings." And like that he grabbed two of the kings, Gemini grabbing the other, and they attempted to run. Not only did they underestimate the kings' weight, but they also underestimated Bone's reaction time. He reactively turned right at Nero and shot a small ball of fire at him, which exploded on contact with Nero.

Nero was a fire type however, so the explosion only knocked him over. Next to him, Gemini fell to the ground and dropped the king he had grabbed. Nero managed to get up, but as soon as he turned around, he was met with a leg to the head. The last thing he heard before he passed out was: "Now what was that?"

* * *

><p>"You have no idea how happy I am right now to see you." The king expressed his gratitude to Crispen and the other knights at their arrival as the appeared behind the army. It had been quickly put together and was not ready for the opposing army in front of it. The soldiers had not been expecting anything, let alone this, plus they did not have their true leaders to head them into battle.<p>

The king motioned for the knights to move up and take their rightful spots upon the army. They all disappeared into the army, leaving only the king and Dark, whom the king had not previously seen. Once he realized who she was, he looked down at her and asked her the all too common question, "What are you doing here?"

This question was, just as it had always been, extremely difficult to answer. After looking around at the re-growing bushes, she answered, "The same think I did when I was still a resident here: walking through the garden. Is there a problem with that?" She looked back at her statement and smiled, it was just as witty as she hoped it would be, and King Absol's face proved it.

"No, there's not a problem with walking through the garden. However, there is a potential danger of these walks, they can lead you to somewhere you don't want to be. Make sure where the road goes before you blindly follow it." Dark looked from King Absol to the road they were standing on, then replied, "Wish you told me that earlier. That is definitely something I should have known before I went on these walks."

Absol followed up his previous statement, "For the road less traveled may be less traveled for a reason." Dark sighed and looked back up at Absol before asking suddenly, "Why did it have to end this way? Why couldn't have I just kept my mouth shut and still be happy?" King Absol looked around at the army, now a little more enthusiastic now that their leaders had arrived. He then looked around at the castle and the tree just sprouting from the garden they were standing on, still scarred from two years ago.

He finally answered, "Because…because if it hadn't happened that way, Marly would still be around destroying things, and one of these days, he would have done something we could have turned back from. Everything went for the best." Dark couldn't believe that statement, "If everything went its best, then how come I'm in the situation I'm in now?" King Absol looked back to her to give her an answer, but one never came. He looked at her for a good few seconds, sighed, then looked back at the army and listened forward to see if he could hear any conversation between the knights and/or whoever was commanding the opposing army.

After a few moments of nothing but silence, he heard a voice appear above the others. It was undiscernible at first, but after King Absol moved forward, he could hear it enough to get a specific voice, or voices: Crispen, and what sounded to be a general or knight on their side. He continued forward, Dark following, until he could see Crispen conversating with a Houndoom. Once Dark saw the Houndoom, she studied it for a second and deducted that it was Wildfire, which made sense, but she would not tell King Absol this, an act of treason would not go over well with him.

Dark noticed they both looked mad at each other, so she started to listen to their conversation: "-o we will not surrender to you. For the fourth time now, this army, and this kingdom will not just surrender by someone marching in and attempting to take the throne. We will fight to the last man before we lose our kingdom." Wildfire looked around the kingdom slowly, obviously frustrated, before answering, "Fine. But, if you said you won't go until you lose every last man that must mean one man doesn't matter."

And like that, he did it. He shot a Fire Blast directly into Crispen's chest. It doesn't matter how much armor you have, it was the equivalent of a house hitting an Eevee, Crispen went flying back into the army, landing just short of King Absol. Wildfire gave a short chuckle and turned around motioning his army with him away from the castle back the way it had come. Dark ran up to Crispen as fast as she could and knelt down next to him as various members of the army yelled or kicked in anger. The entire army quickly lost its previous composure, with the other knights tried to regain, but to no avail.

Dark looked around Crispen's body quickly to check if there was anything she could do, but everything was too burnt to really help. He slowly turned to her and breathlessly said to her, "Have you heard me talk about fire?" Dark quickly shook her head, causing Crispen to sigh lightly, then continue, "Fire is a force that thirsts for destruction and yields for no one. As long as fire leaves devastation in its wake, than we will always avoid it. The longer the fire is left unattended, the more powerful it becomes and we only realize this power after it has taken those we love. It may only take a few hundred men to put it out, but it took thousands of loved ones lives to bring these men to their senses." Dark was speechless after this, and Crispen, who was quickly fading, finalized, "So, tell me: Have you been brought to your senses?"

And with that, Crispen closed his eyes for the last time. Dark continued to kneel in place for a while, but after King Absol walked up to her, she finally got up, then nodded, "Yes, I have now." King Absol looked down at her and told her, "We need to be going, this army is starting to go haywire." Dark motioned for him to pick up Crispen, which he did. They quickly left the grounds the army were on and re-entered the castle before laying Crispen down on the ground inside the castle.

After Absol laid Crispen down, he looked back over at Dark, who was still looking out at the army that was quickly deteriorating. Some had decided to head back to the castle, and some were attempting to chase the army they had just been facing. She continued to watch for a while before turning back towards the King and asking him: "Are you still sure everything went for the best?"


End file.
